Thursday, July 15, 2010

After the roaring success of Windows 7, Microsoft recently unveiled the latest version of its productivity suit, Microsoft Office 2010.

Boasting of a host of collaborative features and an all-new interface, Office 2010 aims to bring back the glory Microsoft lost with Office 2007. Not only this, the software giant also plans to take on the Web's Big Daddy Google which offers free Web-based Google Docs.

In fact, Microsoft has completely overhauled its most-popular software offering Word which now offers improved features for search, editing and pictures.

Here is a look at 10 new features in Microsoft Word 2010.

Improved search

With the new and improved Find experience, you can now view a summary of search results in a single pane, and click to access any individual result. The improved Navigation Pane provides you a visual outline of your document so you can browse, sort and find what you need.

Co-authoring in real-time

Word 2010 redefines the way people can work together on a document. With co-authoring, you can edit papers and share ideas with others at the same time. Share Point Foundation Services or a Windows Live account is required.

You can also view the availability of others who are authoring a document with you and can start a conversation without leaving Word.

Share documents

Word 2010 lets you post your documents online and then access, view, and edit them from almost any computer or your Windows phone.

Microsoft Word Web App edits documents in a Web browser when you’re away from your office or home, without compromising the quality of your viewing experience. You can also stay current and take immediate action using an enhanced mobile version of Word specifically suited to your smart phone.

Add visual effects

With Word 2010, you can apply formatting effects such as shadow, bevel, glow, and reflection to your document text. You can spell-check text that uses visual effects, and add text effects to paragraph styles. Many of the same effects used for images are now available to both text and shapes.

Turn your text into diagram

Word 2010 offers you more options to add visual impact to your documents. You can choose from dozens of additional Smart Art Graphics to build diagrams just by typing a bulleted list. Smart Art enables you to transform basic, bullet-point text into visuals that illustrate your ideas.

Image editing

New picture-editing tools in Word 2010 enable you to add special picture effects without additional photo-editing software. You can easily adjust pictures with color saturation and temperature controls. You also get improved tools for easier and more precise cropping and image correction.

Recover lost draft

After working on that document for awhile, did you accidentally close it without saving? Worry not. Word 2010 lets you recover draft versions of recently edited files as easily as opening any file, even if you never saved the document.

Insert screen shots

You can now capture and insert screen shots directly from Word 2010 to incorporate visual illustrations into your work. When you use a tablet-enabled device such as a Tablet PC, you get improved tools for formatting ink as easily as you format shapes.

New File menu

The new Microsoft Office Backstage view replaces the traditional File menu to let you save, share, print, and publish your documents with just a few clicks. With the improved Ribbon, you can access your favorite commands even more quickly by customizing tabs.

Word translation

Word 2010 helps you work and communicate across different languages. It translates a word, phrase, or document more easily than before. You can set separate language settings for Screen Tips, Help content, and displays. And, get additional assistance for English as a second language with English text-to-speech playback.